Steam iron baffling



" March 3, 1970 1.. LEbB ETTER I 3,497,975

' STEAM IRON BAFFLING Filed April 12. 1968 x A A I0 49 j /Z Inventor Larrg Ledbetter Attorney United States Patent O 3,497,975 STEAM IRON BAFFLING Larry Ledbetter, Fort Smith, Ark., assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Filed Apr. 12, 1968, Ser. No. 720,857 Int. Cl. D06f 75/06, 75/14 U.S. Cl. 3877.82 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention The invention herein pertains to a steam iron that con tains a water tank and, more particularly, to a novel baffiing structure for the water tank to prevent sloshing of the water out the fill opening to the tank.

Description of the prior art With the advent of irons using water for either steam or spray purposes or both, it is customary to provide a water tank in the iron shell above the soleplate and to use controls whereby the water is dripped into a boiler and evaporated and directed out steam holes in the soleplate to steam the article. Additionally, spray attachments have been added to such irons which may pump a fine spray, either manually or power operated, from the Water tank to spray onto the garment. In such an iron, when the iron is stopped at its forward stroke, depending on the fill opening used and placement of the opening, the water tends to keep moving and may slosh out the fill opening. Also, when the iron is turned up on its heel in a resting position, trapped water may also slosh out the fill opening. Further, when the water in the tank reaches boiling temperature, its viscosity is greatly reduced and the water can be and is expelled out the fill opening. This phenomenon is known as up-chucking. Of course, any such expelled water may be very hot. It is known to put bafiling in tanks of fluid to dampen or reduce surges or momentum of the water and baffling has been used in irons to prevent the water being expelled out of the fill opening during the various ironing operations. Normally, when the fill opening is disposed at a substantial height from the soleplate, the water tank may be sufficiently remote that the expelling of water is not a serious problem. However, as iron designs change, in some cases the fill opening has been located very close to the water tank, thus providing a very short path between the water and the opening so that expelling of the hot water can easily occur during the various motions in ironing and this can be cumulative at boiling temperature when the water can also be expelled.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Briefly described, the present invention is directed to a normally horizontal steam iron that has an enclosed water tank in a shell under the connected operating handle structure and a steam soleplate on the bottom of the shell. In this general structure a water fill opening to the water tank is provided at the forward portion of the handle located substantially at the handle-shell joint and communicating through a short path with the interior of the tank at the foremost portion of the tank. At least two generally vertically disposed connected lbatfies are dis- 3,497,975 Patented Mar; 3, 1970 posed in the tank and extend transversely across the tank to the edges thereof aft of the fill opening to dampen surges in the tank. Water spillage out the fill opening, such as by back-splashing, is prevented by a horizontal extension arm that may be integral with the baffles and the extension contains blocking means disposed completely under the opening in the tank to direct fill water aft into the tank and block the path of the water to prevent back-splashing or boiling out of the fill opening. The extension blocking means is off-set below its arm to cover the opening and form passages with the tank through which the water may be directed aft and the blocking means also extends laterally beyond the opening substantially to the edge of the tank. Thus, the main object of the invention is to provide an improved baffling structure in an iron containing a water tank where the fill opening is low on the iron substantially at the joint between the handle and the iron shell so that back-splashing of water and up-chucking out of the fill opening is obviated.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is an elevational view partially in section and broken away showing the general parts of an iron illustrating the invention; and

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the bottom of the water tank and the internal baffling structure resting there on.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring first to FIG. 1, there is shown an electric steam iron that may include a spray attachment if desired. The iron includes a soleplate 10 having a plurality of steam ports 12 and a shell 14 secured thereto, the shell being connected along a joint 15 to handle structure 16 all in known fashion. In accordance with conventional practice, soleplate 10 may be cast from a material such as aluminum with an electrical heating element 18 cast in position. This heating element preferably is of the sheath type and, with the electrical resistance element, extends through an outer tubular protective sheath with the heating element separated from the outer sheath by an insulating compound resistant to heat such as granulated and compressed magnesium oxide. The heating element generally extends in a loop beginning at the rear of the iron and along one side to the forward or pointed end and then reawardly along the other side. Thus, substantially uniform heat distribution is provided, particularly when an aluminum soleplate is employed and the iron is plugged in by cord 19 and activated.

The iron includes means for generating steam by the provision of a water tank that may be formed of an upper sheet metal element 20 and a lower element 22 which are then sealed along the edges with a suitable compound to form a water tight tank. For steam, soleplate 10 has a steam generating cavity or boiler 24 through which, under control of valve 26 and spring-biased stem 28, water may be dropped from tank 20 onto the hot soleplate and the resultant steam distributed through passages 30' under cover 32 and thence out ports 12 onto the fabric being ironed. An additional spray attachment, either manual or power operated, and forming no part of the present invention, may be operated by control button 34. A typical power spray is shown in U.S. Patent 3,041,757 of common assignment. Temperature control means 36 operates to thermostatically control the heat generated in the soleplate in a known manner.

In order to supply water to the tank 20 for steam and/or spray, a fill opening 38 is provided with direct communication to the tank. Depending on the particular design of the iron, the fill opening and control knobs may be in various locations. In a particular design, the fill opening is at the extreme front of the iron and, located quite low on the forward portion of the iron handle substantially at the top of the shell as indicated at 38 in FIG. 1. This opening is thereby substantially at the handle-shell joint and communicates directly with the interior of the tank at the foremost portion thereof as shown in FIG. 1. The result of this design is that the fill opening 38 is very low on the iron and subject to back-splashing and upchucking during operation. A typical iron of this type is shown in US. Patent Des. 210,486 of common assignment where the front fill opening is clearly shown at the joint line. The location of opening 38 at the extreme front or apex of the iron and tank is partially dictated by the requirement that the spray control 34 and steam control 26 as well as the temperature control 36 must all be located forward for convenient operation.

In order to prevent the water from sloshing out of the fill opening during the normal ironing motion, means are provided in the form of baffle structure generally indicated at 40 disposed in the water tank to reduce sloshing within the tank. The bafile structure comprises at least two generally vertically disposed and horizontally spaced bafiles 42 and 44 that may be integrally connected by forming them of a piece of sheet metal. The baffles extend transversely across the tank aft of the fill opening 38 as shown in FIG. 1 and extend substantially to the edge of the tank as seen in FIG. 2. Generally, the bafiles are fitted so that sufficient clearance is allowed around the edges for the movement of water back and forth but the water is sufficiently dampened to effectively reduce-any surging in the tank during horizontal motion of the iron.

In order to block off the fill opening 38 so that water can not readily pass from the tank to the outside of, the iron, a horizontally extending blocking means 46 is provided which may be any suitably supported blocking means adjacent opening 38 and is conveniently formed as an extension arm that is integrally formed with the baffles as clearly seen in FIG. 2. The arm 46 is substantially coplanar with the top of tank and extends over the fill opening 38 to substantially cover and form a block at the opening to the tank. The end of the arm 46 is provided with an arrow-shaped blocker 48 that is so shaped because it is disposed at the extreme forward end of the pointed tank. As such, it lies directly under the fill opening 38 and extends laterally on each side beyond the opening to substantially the edges of the tank as clearly seen in FIG. 2. The entire baffie structure 40 may be stamped out of a single piece of sheet metal and may include a notch 50 for the passage of an inlet water tube 52 through which water is sucked out of the tank to be used as a spray if the spray attachment is part of the iron structure. If not, notch 50 serves no particular purpose but may be left in the blocker 48 so that only one part may be used on several iron models.

In order to insure that the water entering fill opening 38 is directed into the tank without any substantial flow obstruction, the blocker 48 is preferably offset below arm 46 so that side passages 53 are formed between the lateral extensions of blocker 48 and the adjacent tank upper portion 20. Thus, water is directed aft into the tank but any returning water that flows underneath blocker 48 cannot escape out fill opening 38. The horizontal substantially coplanar extension permits free flow under it and thus prevents water from being trapped under the opening so that no water can be splashed out when the iron is tipped up to vertical or heel rest position. The horizontal extension 46 may be formed with suitable opening 54 for the passage of stem 28 and with opening 56 in which sleeve 58 may e disposed to p ovide a passage r he tern.-

4. perature control rod 60 to the thermostat below the water tank. An additional sleeve 62 may enclose bolt means through which the various elements of structure may be connected together. The use of sleeve 58 between the tank elements locates and positions the baffle as well as providing an access means through the tank for the temperature control rod 60. Additionally, all the sleeves may be notched to act as spacers and then be rolled over to join the tank elements together in addition to a rolled, sealed joint around the edge of the elements 20 and 22. The bafiles may also thus act as spacers.

Thus, sleeve 58 positions the bafl le, provides access through-the tank, and holds the tank elements together at the right spacing along with the baffles.

The use of the unique baifiing structure with a particular design wherein the fill opening is located low on the iron substantially at the joint between the shell and handle, prevents any sloshing of water out the opening during either normal ironing operation or up-chucking or as result of water trapped directly under the fill opening when the iron is tipped into a heel rest position. Additionally the bafile structure provides some support for maintaining the tank components in their assembled position.

While there has been described a preferred form of the invention, obvious equivalent variations are possible in light of the above teachings.

I claim:

1. In a normally horizontal steam iron having an enclosed water tank in a shell under connected handle structure and a steam soleplate on the bottom of the shell,

a water fill opening to said tank at the bottom of the forward portion of said handle substantially at the handle-shell joint and communicating with the interior of said tank at the foremost portion thereof,

at least two vertically disposed connected baffies in said tank extending transversely thereof across said tank and aft of said hole to dampen surges in the tank,

horizontal extension blocking means disposed under said opening in said tank to direct fill water aft into the tank and prevent water splashing out of said fill hole,

said extension comprising an arm integrally formed with said baffles and substantially coplanar with the tank top,

said blocking means being disposed on the end thereof under said opening and,

a sleeve extending through said tank and said connected bafl'les to locate said baffies in said tank.

2. Apparatus as described in claim 1 wherein the blocker portion of said arm is Oifset below said arm to cover said opening and,

said blocker extends laterally on each side beyond the opening to substantially the edges of said tank.

3. Apparatus as described in claim 2 wherein said lateral offset extensions form passages with said tank to direct water aft into said tank.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,749,632 6/1956 Brace 38- 77 2,817,912 12/1957 Schott et al. 38-77 2,890,533 6/1959 Wayne 3877 FOREIGN PATENTS 827,695 2/1960 Great Britain.

PATRICK D, LAWSON, Primary Examiner 

